Going Dark
by Sciencefictionsquirrel
Summary: As the end of Riley's life draws near, the Emotions handle their final tasks and reflect on the life they helped Riley live. (One-shot, Character Death, of course.)


Going Dark

Summary: As the end of Riley's life draws near, the Emotions handle their final tasks and reflect on the life they helped Riley live. (One-shot, Character Death, of course.)

A/N: I wanted to show how the Emotions would handle Riley's life drawing to a close, and this is the result. I hope you all enjoy it.

I am not affiliated with Pixar in any way.

Going Dark:

They'd been dreading this time. Riley was old, almost at the end of her life. As she lay in her hospital bed, the Emotions sat in Headquarters, thinking about how to go about the next steps.

"Okay, people, this is it. We're at T-minus nine minutes till shutdown, and holding. When the family gets here, countdown resumes." Joy said, trying to keep her voice level. "We'll be on a tight schedule there, so I want to know we've got everything ready. Does everyone have the memories of Riley's life for recall when we do the flash-through ready to roll?"

"We're good to go on that." Sadness said as the others nodded solemnly.

"Everyone knows how we're handling the end? Do we need to go through a rehearsal?"

"She's scared of the unknown." Fear.

"She should have had more time." Anger.

"She's going to have her regrets over the past." Disgust

"She'll be sad it's over."

"And last, but not least, she's going to be content with it, because she did all right. We did all right, people." Joy said. "Riley's had a good life. Yeah, it's had its ups and downs, but we did the best we could, and she's okay." As Joy said this, she glanced up at the screen, and noticed a nurse come through the door.

"Riley, your family's here to see you."

Joy smiled. "Showtime," she said softly as the emotions got ready at their stations and a large timer on the console started ticking down from nine minutes.

"Send them in." Riley said.

A large group of people filed into the room, ranging in age from their mid-forties to just three. Riley smiled as Joy expertly put the appropriate gears into motion. A signal to the others had the appropriate memories spring up: all of the best moments Riley had had with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren over the course fo Riley's life.

* * *

Riley had shooed her family out, asking to be alone for a few minutes. The fact that this was specifically to let the Emotions go back over Riley's lifetime of memories had nearly broken them. They knew that Riley wanted to be surrounded by her friends and family, but she also wanted to be alone. And they wanted to be alone with her for this.

Sadness checked the clock. "It's almost here." she said. "T-minus four minutes and counting."

"This isn't fair!" Anger spewed. "She deserves more time. All the time in the world! And we deserve it with her!"

"This is how things are, Anger." Sadness said. "I don't want to go, either. I don't know what will happen to Riley, or to us, but we have to remember-"

"We did our best. We gave her the best life we could, looked out for her and guided her."

"At least nothing can hurt her when she's gone. I don't even have a list of potential disasters." Fear said.

"And it's not like she'll have bad people around her with bad tastes." Disgust said.

A beep sounded on the\ panel, and the emotions glanced at the timer. "Okay, time for the reminiscing before we go." Joy said, and the emotions all keyed in a set of commands, setting into motion the replay of the highlights of Riley's life.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Through Riley's Eyes: The Abridged Reprise Of Riley's Life." Joy said.

They sat in silence, knowing that they'd only have about a minute or so when they were done to say their final goodbyes.

When the last of the selected memories played (A family reunion from six months before, shortly before Riley's husband had died), Joy glanced out the window of Headquarters. Slowly, life in Riley's mind was grinding to a halt, areas fading out and going dark.

"Well, this is it." Sadness said.

"Is it worth it, though? We've guided Riley through her whole life, and now there's nothing we can do." Fear said.

"Uh, guys, if we're going to send Riley off properly, we all need to be on the panel." Disgust said pointedly.

Joy jumped up in the air. "Oh! Right! Let's do this, people!"

Assembled at their places on the console, the five of them effortlessly coordinated their actions, mixing in just the right emotions.

As the timer ticked down into the last ten seconds, Riley's eyes began to close, and the emotions smiled. Around Headquarters, the rest of Riley's mind had gone dark, and the lights in Headquarters were dimming.

The emotions were counting down the last seconds silently, and as they passed five, Joy wiped a tear from her eye. "Thank you, Riley. Thank you for being our person." she said, as the timer clicked down to three.

Riley's eyes finally fluttered shut, and a smile of contentment was on her face. "I had a good life." she murmured softly, absently.

The Emotions cheered at Riley's approval as Headquarters dissolved, the five of them and their little girl going out together, happy with the job they'd done of life.


End file.
